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Synonyms

autobiography

American  
[aw-tuh-bahy-og-ruh-fee, -bee-, aw-toh-] / ˌɔ tə baɪˈɒg rə fi, -bi-, ˌɔ toʊ- /

noun

plural

autobiographies

  1. a history of a person's life written or told by that person.

autobiography British  
/ ˌɔːtəʊbaɪˈɒɡrəfɪ, ˌɔːtəbaɪ- /

noun

  1. an account of a person's life written or otherwise recorded by that person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
autobiography Cultural  

  1. A literary work about the writer's own life. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa are autobiographical.

Other Word Forms

  • autobiographer noun

Etymology

Origin of autobiography

First recorded in 1790–1800; auto- 1 + biography

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“The Worlds I See” is also a scientific autobiography, a compelling account of Li’s personal and intellectual journey from the impoverished circumstances of a Chinese immigrant family life to a wealthy and world-leading university lab.

From Los Angeles Times

Maggie Nelson has been named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for her work that blends frank autobiography with criticism and philosophy.

From Los Angeles Times

More than five million words survive from his pen, including the “Confessions,” a slippery and carefully constructed autobiography covering his life into his mid-30s; numerous letters; and chatty, confessional sermons.

From The Wall Street Journal

The book’s leading actors have been subjects of biographies and autobiographies, and most events have been exhaustively covered in scholarly and popular histories and articles as well as media reports.

From The Wall Street Journal

Pope Francis wrote in his autobiography that when his papacy began in 2013, he felt that he would only have two or three years in the role.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.